Sunday, 23 June 2013

Yesterday I had a wonderful 'research' day at Haddon Hall. As you know this is the fictional home of my character Sir John de Laverton or as we know him better...Jack, so I never need much of an excuse to visit.

And yesterday The Tudor Group were there presenting a Tudor wedding, complete with wedding breakfast, Tudor games and dancing. I was so impressed by the Tudor Group; their kit is amazing, their research thorough and their knowledge extensive and it was great to chat about the similarities and differences between 'our' periods.

We talked about the etiquette and ceremony of a Tudor (or medieval) feast - the luxury of choice, the reverence with which the servants treated their betters, even when encountered in the garden (reminded me of Kim Phillips' excellent paper on the Earl of Warwick at Middleham) and the pride with which the household liveried retainers wore their badges.

Servants bring the first dishes.

Double linen and the best majolica for the top table!

The 'Bride Cake'.

Children weren't allowed to sit until they showed enough maturity to do so!

And of course The White Queen was mentioned - why? Because you won't see any of this in the BBC dramatisation (we talked about actors' reluctance in wearing hats or in Max Irons' case not adopt the hairstyle either!). Such a shame that the actors and producers missed a wonderful opportunity to educate as well as entertain the public as the Tudor Group did so brilliantly.

Sunday, 9 June 2013

It's my great pleasure to start the first indieBRAGTM blog tour by hosting an interview
with fellow indieBRAG HonoreeTM and re-enactor, Paula Lofting, author of ‘Sons of the Wolf’.

Hi Paula, I believe this is your first novel; why did
you decide to write ‘Sons of the Wolf’?Hi Su, let
me start by thanking you for agreeing to host me on the opening day of my blog
tour. It’s great to be here, especially on your fantastic blog. I’ve been an
admirer of your work for some time! Well, to answer question number one, it had
always been my dream to write a novel of some sort ever since I was a kid,
daydreaming in my composition class at school. I never could write short
stories, I was only able to write ones that went on forever and I struggled to
get them finished. My mind was likewoven
cloth, with so many threads running through it. Sons of the Wolf was a late
inspiration, mainly because throughout my life, the dream became a distant
memory as other paths took me away from what I had always wanted to do. Life
does that sometimes. Later, I found myself re-evaluating life after a marriage
breakdown and some really dark times. I started reading again and the urge to
write gnawed and nibbled at me until I just had to write that epic novel I was
always meant to. That it would be historical fiction was a given. After
perusing with ideas and eras, I was finally inspired when I watched a
re-enactment of the Battle of Hastings, and when I stumbled on a book by David
Howarth’s 1066, The Year of The Conquest,
I knew I had my story.

Although ‘Sons of the Wolf’ is a work of
fiction it is based on historical fact. How did you go about researching it?After I had decided on my subject, I started researching
articles about the 11thc on the net and stumbled across www.regia.orgwebsite and found that
apart from some really interesting, useful articles, they also did living
history and battle re-enactment and thought that it would be a wonderful way of
learning firsthand what it was like to live a thousand years ago in England. I
contacted them and found that they had a group in Sussex where I live. Having
joined them, I now realise that the enjoyment of re-enacting far outweighs the
enjoyment of the research aspect. It’s a great life and I wish I had joined
earlier. For the events and politics of the time I read widely and look for
primary sources to ensure as much accuracy as possible.

Do you feel any responsibilities as a writer
of historical fiction? Definitely. Everyone has
something to say about this don’t they,J.
I know that there are lots of authors and readers who are not too fussed about
historical accuracy and that’s fine, but for me, it wouldn’t feel right if I
didn’t at least try to stick to the facts as far as I possibly can interpret
them. I wouldn’t feel comfortable with changing or making up facts to suit my
story and I wouldn’t want to attribute good or bad deeds to a historical figure
if it were not true.

What can a modern readership learn from the hardships
of Wulfhere and his family and the Anglo Saxons in general?Probably the first lesson would be not to take for
granted our nice cosy lives and to appreciate and respect our ancestors for
paving the way for us. If not for their hardships, we would not be the people
we are today. It was a hard cruel world, for both the peasants and the
nobility. Families like the Wulfheresons from my story, enjoyed the comforts of
plenty of food, servants to help them, decent clothing and a great hearth to
warm their home, but they still endured hardships such as having their crops
ruined by weather; damp, cold drafty rooms; illness and untimely deaths caused
by something as minor as a witlow on their fingernail; death in child birth;
invading marauders; it often made no difference what your status was, it was a
hard life for everyone, though much harder for some others. No soft toilet roll
to use in a nice flushing loo; no antibiotics to cure your infections;
shivering in long cold winter nights. Wulfhere might have been a thegn (a
low-ranking noble) but he still would have had to chop wood for fuel, work hard
mending bridges and fencing around the King’s demesne as well as maintaining
his own buildings. His wife Ealdgytha would have spent her day spinning wool,
weaving cloth or sewing clothing for her family. She would have had to see that
everyone was fed and watered and oversee the work around the home and make sure
the farm ran smoothly. I think we also take for granted today that we have the
potential to live long healthy lives, in medieval times, if you survived past 5
years old, you might be lucky to live till you were 25, perhaps less if you
were female, with the chance of dying in child birth. I could probably go on
forever!

What are you currently working on?I’m currently working on the sequel to Sons of the Wolf,
The Wolf Banner. It follows Wulfhere’s fortunes further and leads us closer to
the Battle of Hastings. It also continues with the fortunes of the historical
characters of that time too.And
finally, where can readers learn more about your work?My website is: http://www.paulalofting.com/And 'Sons of the Wolf' is also available from Amazon in both the UK and US.Thanks Paula, it's been great to chat with you!

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About Me

A BRAG medallion™ Honoree.
Recently published my second novel 'A Rose of England'- available now from Amazon. This is the sequel to 'The Colour of Treason' which was published in 2011 and was awarded a BRAG medallion™. I am also working on an action adventure series also set in the fifteenth century. Member of The Frivolous Quill writing group. Member of Towton Battlefield Society and the Frei Compagnie. Member of Richard III Society.